


The Fable of the Apple

by Elise_Davidson (orphan_account)



Series: 25 Ways to Sing [5]
Category: The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: 25 Ways to Sing, Challenge Response, Multi, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-28
Updated: 2013-06-28
Packaged: 2017-12-16 09:36:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/860644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Elise_Davidson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"She didn't realize until mid-day that this was the happiest Christmas she'd had in a while."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fable of the Apple

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the unnecessary fandom spam :( I was doing the series wrong.
> 
> Song: "Fairytale of New York"-The Pogues

Penny fiddles with a few ornaments on the Christmas tree, though the motion is more restless than perfecting. She had mostly watched Leonard decorate it more than actually done anything herself, but Leonard's over-enthusiasm for all things holiday-related without a required term paper had worn on her last year.

She kind of wishes Dr. Hofstader would come by for a visit, because seriously, she could do with some intellectual fun (she's not saying she wants Leonard to be sad about Christmas, or even that his brand of intellectual fun is actually a bit more hurtful than fun, but—stop it). Penny flicks a bulb, and squeaks as it comes loose. She catches it, but only just.

5 frickin' years, they've been in New York now, and while Leonard's career had (predictably and safely) taken off brilliantly, hers is just as stagnant (and unreliable) as ever. The Hawking project Leonard had worked on so long ago had really opened plenty of doors, and the pay in New York (as well as the research opportunities) were simply too good to pass up.

It wasn't like they hadn't all spread their wings in the last few years. After she and Leonard had gone to New York, Howard had received another NASA opportunity in Florida. As with Leonard, the combination of career benefits and pay was enough for him to discuss it with Bernadette and Mrs. Wolowitz.

Penny was surprised when the aged-Mrs. Wolowitz had agreed, citing Florida as "one big, Jewish retirement home; half the family's already there", and Penny was shocked when Bernadette stayed behind. The microbiologist had just accepted a research opportunity to study possible vaccines for Ebola, and if they could make it work with Howard in space, surely they could make a cross-country deal work.

Sheldon had been (extremely predictably) tight-lipped the first year they were gone, though Amy regularly texted Penny about how they were doing.

Apparently, Sheldon had finally managed to peck Amy quickly on the lips. Amy said very much about it; Leonard had heard nothing from Sheldon on the matter (oddly, Sheldon had continued to keep in touch with Leonard, but steadfastly didn't speak with Penny. Ever.). His work seemed to be going fine, if the way it always went for Sheldon—Amy had called on Bernadette last year to unstick him, just because Bernadette had a way of imitating Mama Cooper that was somewhat…frightening, if Penny thought about it for too long.

But then again, Bernadette had a way of being motherly without wanting to be one herself.

Raj is possibly the quietest one. Though the entire debacle that was social-anxiety-Lucy had let him speak to women (and oh god, had he ever), he had seemed to withdraw a bit once Howard left. Penny knew that he'd gone home several times to visit family, and had visited Priya in LA a few times as well when she was in town again. Beyond that, Raj wasn't talking to much of anyone.

Penny sighs and tries to pull herself from thoughts of the past. Christmas in New York is a beautiful sight to behold; Leonard's dragged her out every year since they've been here for the lighting of the tree at Times Square, and then again for New Year's in hopes they might be one of the "cute couples" that get filmed kissing at the ball being dropped.

Penny returns to their room, where Leonard is still as much of a neat-freak-geek as ever. The Batman clock is on the nightstand, next to the one that vibrates and rings and bounces until she physically picks it up (Leonard had tried the math app for her phone; Penny had broken her phone). There are piles of clipped newspapers that Leonard's cut out for her for local plays.

Penny's tired of auditions, where she can't control certain parts of herself that get her rejected for roles she genuinely wants. It's not like she has to work right now, what with Leonard's salary, but she gets bored and restless sitting alone in the apartment all day.

She feels a little useless, like she's just there as a perk to Leonard's career and life.

Penny shakes her head sharply again, and begins picking out a cheery outfit for the get-together this afternoon. For the first time in 5 years, the gang's getting together in her and Leonard's apartment for Christmas. She isn't sure how happy it's really going to be.

She looks in the mirror to inspect her hair and make-up (already done earlier), and frowns. She isn't sure why, but she looks tired. She sighs, and begins to dress.

Looking tired isn't the same as being tired, she thinks, and guesses once everyone shows up, and maybe once she's had a glass of wine (or 3), she'll stop thinking that she's given everything up just to follow Leonard to New York and live out his fairy tale instead of her own.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It turns out to be an interesting evening, once everyone's caught up a little bit. Penny frowns when Sheldon all but ignores her, and instead stays close to Amy and Bernadette, as if they're his guard dogs.

Amy gives her a full-on (a little too full, honestly) bear-hug in greeting, squealing a bit as Bernadette hangs back. Bernadette looks…tired too, once Penny gets a good look at her. Bernadette's almost as reticent as Sheldon, and Penny frowns in her concern and hurt.

Leonard picks up on it almost immediately, which wouldn't be that bad, except he keeps excusing he and Penny to try and talk it out. This results in Penny hitting the wine harder than she meant to, which results in Leonard doing the same.

Penny's not sure where her memory went (stupid, stupid, stupid lemon drops!), but after she gets her head out of the toilet, Bernadette's sitting on the lip of the tub with a tense look of exhaustion. Sheldon's squawking over the phone outside of said-bathroom—something about bail, oh god, who hit who—

Bernadette shuffles her to bed though, quickly and without argument in that motherly way that Bernadette has about her.

Penny blinks at her owlishly, and struggles to pull up any memory after she started the lemon drops, but finds nothing. Bernadette sits with her, and Sheldon's passing her a bottle of water and an antacid, while still belligerently fussing at someone over the phone.

Jesus, he is talking bail—where the fuck is Howard and Leonard and Raj and Amy and—

Bernadette wipes her hair from her sweaty face, and uses a damp washcloth to pull some of the grit from her eyes. Bernadette's a terrible singer, but the tones are still high-pitched and sweet, and Penny lays her head in the shorter girl's lap because seriously, her life got so screwed so quickly in New York.

Leonard had made it sound perfect, and Penny must have said something to that effect, because Bernadette shushes her about the rivers of gold, the cold winds, and all of the Broadway prospects, and tells her to go to sleep.

Penny jams Bernadette's hand between her cheek and the thighs beneath them. It feels nice…and again, she must say something to that effect, because Bernadette's fingers move and flutter beneath her face.

Sheldon finally hangs up the phone, and Penny passes out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Leonard doesn't like drunk tanks, seeing as he's completely unfamiliar with jails in general. There's an old man beside of him, singing something about Mountain Dew and how no one's going to see another Christmas after this one. Honestly, he hadn't meant to take a swing at Sheldon, and it's really not his fault that he hit Amy instead—but seriously, Amy was pretty quick, and Leonard had really had it with Sheldon being…Sheldon.

This was supposed to work. This was supposed to be him and Penny, forever, living both of their dreams out. It wasn't supposed to be Penny losing herself, bit by bit, and Leonard simply hoping that this year would be different, that this year would be for them. He remembers the bitterly cold night they first walked up to Broadway, hand in hand, and Penny's face lit up like a Christmas tree, and he really thought that this time, they'd get it right. This place had so much promise and newness.

Leonard's pretty sure he called her a bitch tonight…or something equally horrendous, in his drunken stupor. But Penny wasn't the only one he'd insulted.

Seriously, if Sheldon had just shut up and not been ridiculing or belittling everything Leonard had been happy about…

The old man beside of him is still singing about cars as big as bars.

He grits his teeth—one of the police officers seemed to think it was hilarious, having someone with a Ph.D. in physics in the drunk tank—and the officers around the jail had started singing Irish tunes. If they did "And we drink and we die" or "Johnny, I hardly knew ya" one more time, Leonard's pretty sure he's going to get drunker just so he can escape the off-key singing.

Raj is the one who picks him up, and quietly informs him that Sheldon posted his bail, and that for right now, it's best if Leonard stays with Raj.

Leonard swears, and flops into the backseat. He's tired enough to sleep, but he feels something jabbing him in the chest. He pulls out the offending object, and realizes it's the Christmas card he had gotten for Penny—her gift was under the tree, but the card (now crumpled beneath his weight) bore the following message:

Merry Christmas, babe. I know it's been hard…but better times are coming, and all of our dreams will come true. Love, Leonard.

He crushes it further in his hand—he can't stand to look at it, because to keep looking at it is just cruel. He opts to pass out in the backseat of Raj's car instead, where he can dream about how it really did work out the way he thought it would.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Penny wakes up slowly, like always, and gingerly swallows. Yeah, that's definitely the soreness of having puked screaming at her. On the bright side, she doesn't feel nearly as terrible as she might have.

Bernadette is sleeping behind her, carefully confined to the other half of the bed. Penny carefully rises because she doesn't want to wake the other girl, and fails miserably because Sheldon asleep in a chair shocks her into a scream.

Sheldon jerks awake, screaming his usual spiel of danger, and Bernadette flails awkwardly before hitting the floor.

Penny wants to cry and laugh, and she does both as she collapses to the floor. She hadn't realized how miserable she was until she really laughed, and not the fake kind of laugh she gives all of Leonard's co-workers, the ones who think she's too stupid to know about lightyears and atoms.

It's Christmas day, and it isn't until mid-day that she realizes it's one of the happiest ones she's had in nearly five years. Bernadette's given her a binder of electron-microscope photos (Bernadette had taken them herself), and Sheldon (with much grumbling and irritation, given his feelings about gift-giving and reciprocity) gives her a child's book on physics.

Penny feels a little bad—she'd gotten Bernadette a lovely necklace that had some kind of NDA or AND or something on it. Sheldon's gift…well, she hadn't thought much of it at the time, but one of her better roles in the past 5 years had been as an extra on a tv show called "Sh*t My Dad Says", and she'd managed to snag a signature from Captain Kirk himself to make the Spock signature a matching set.

She'd drawn the line at asking William Shatner spit on the piece of paper though—she figures she's just missing the drunk doctor and the irish dude, and she's set with Sheldon for life.

Either way, Penny relaxes with both of them as Sheldon mocks their Saturnalia tree and Bernadette frets over what kinds of things might be living on the real fir tree that Leonard had insisted on getting, and they end up watching some odd amalgam of sci-fi shows (Star Trek and Dr. Who), documentaries (a particularly frightening one on a supposed zombie ant virus) and reality (seriously, Penny will die if she doesn't keep up with Top Model and Survivor).

It isn't until she goes to bed that night, alone, that she realizes throughout today, she didn't really miss Leonard at all. She feels guilty, and tries to sleep it away, but the combined hangover and utter apathy towards Leonard simply makes her feel worse, and she hopes that she's crying quietly.

She isn't, and Bernadette carefully sleeps beside of her again.

When Penny wakes up, Sheldon's not asleep in a chair in the room—but he had moved the couch (what the fuck, physics; he didn't wake anyone) to the hallway to sleep.

Penny cries a little bit at his concern—and begins to wonder just what she's missed in the last five years, because Bernadette and Sheldon seem to have an idea of what they're doing—she's just confused and startled and finally happy all at the same time.

Maybe fairy tales do work out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


End file.
